Job boost on the cards

By Melissa Meehan
MORE jobs in Casey and Cardinia will lift pressure on the Monash Freeway and give residents a better quality of life.
At the final council meeting for 2011, Cardinia councillors supported a motion to adopt the Casey Cardinia Investment Attraction Framework.
The AEC Group was commissioned by the City of Casey, Cardinia Shire and the Southern Melbourne Committee of Regional Development Australia to identify opportunities to attract new investment and new employment into the region.
Councillor George Blenkhorn said attracting investment and employment opportunities into the area was the most important job at hand for the council in coming years.
He said Casey and Cardinia had more people than the Northern Territory, Tasmania and Canberra, and it was a sad state of affairs that there were limited employment opportunities.
“Sixty five percent of our population leaves the area to go to work every day,” Cr Blenkhorn said.
“They spend at least two hours sitting in their car, stuck on the Monash, when they should be able to work where they live.
“We have the land and the people here.”
Cr Blenkhorn said opening the port of Hastings would really help Casey Cardinia attract investment, but said that was still 10-12 years away.
“We also need to ensure there is a Thompsons Road link to Cardinia, it is essential for that to happen before the port is opened,” he said.
His colleague Councillor Collin Ross said it was important that the council sought investment that will create new jobs in the area as “we already have people here, wanting to work” and the building boom would not be around forever.
The framework was supported by all councillors, and will now be a focus of council for the future.